1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing carbonated water by contact between carbonic acid gas and water and, more particularly, it relates to an apparatus for manufacturing carbonated water that can suitably be used in an carbonated beverage supplying apparatus such as an automatic vending machine, an automatic dispenser or the like.
2. Background Art
With a known method for manufacturing carbonated water disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-164630, water is injected into a carbonic acid gas pressure container through an orifice arranged at an upper part thereof so that air bubbles formed by the injected water absorb carbonic acid gas to consequently produce carbonated water. However, this known method is accompanied by a drawback that carbonated water manufactured by this method does not satisfactorily stimulate the throat with agreeable pungency because, with this method, carbonic acid gas is absorbed by water that is being injected and vibrating and the absorbed gas can be easily separated again from the water by the temperature of the human body once the carbonated water is taken into the body.
In an attempt to overcome this drawback, there has been proposed a technique of arranging sprays on the peripheral wall of the carbonic acid gas pressure container in order to disperse water and make it fly over a distance that is long enough to sufficiently absorb carbonic acid gas. However, it is not realistic to provide such a long flying distance for water in an apparatus for manufacturing carbonated water that is installed in an automatic vending machine or an automatic dispenser.
There is also proposed a technique of providing a long flying distance for water without using a large apparatus. With this technique, a convex inner wall is arranged vis-a-vis the sprays in the carbonic acid gas pressure container so that sprayed water may collide with the convex wall and become rebounded and dispersed again to consequently prolong the overall flying distance. However, with this technique, water colliding with the convex wall of the pressure container does not rebound satisfactorily because the energy of collision is mostly absorbed by the convex wall and most of the water simply falls along the wall.
With another proposed technique, water is injected into the carbonic acid gas pressure container continuously through a nozzle and made to collide with the inner wall of the container to become atomized. However, again, the energy of collision is mostly absorbed by the wall and, consequently, most of the water simply falls along the wall to make the technique poorly successful.
There is also a known technique of putting cold water into the carbonic acid gas pressure container and stirring it by means of a stirrer to produce bubbles so that the latter may absorb carbonic acid gas. However, when a carbonated water manufacturing apparatus involving the use of such a technique is installed in an automatic vending machine or an automatic dispenser and the apparatus is operated constantly for a long period, the carbonic acid gas contained in the pressure container is rapidly consumed to make the apparatus inoperable within a short period of time.